Pubdate: Sun, May 09 1999 Source: Oregonian, The (OR) Copyright: 1999 The Oregonian Contact: 1320 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201 Fax: 503-294-4193 Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/ Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/ Author: Tony Kneidek, Southeast Portland MEDICAL-MARIJUANA RULES INSULTING I was diagnosed with treatable but incurable brain cancer on March 2, 1998. My life changed that day in ways that no legislator, health-division bureaucrat, doctor, lawyer, cop, friend, lover or acquaintance can begin to understand. Everything I do, every decision I make, every song I sing to my young daughters, every moment of every day is now filtered through the haze of this life-threatening disease. Death is no longer abstract, and neither is life. I have survived major brain surgery. I have endured 32 treatments of radiation. I have struggled through six months of chemotherapy. I have found relief from the nausea, fatigue, sleeplessness, depression, pain and lack of appetite with the help of one primary drug: marijuana. Now I'm told that I need to apply for a permit, pay $150 for a registration card and be looking over my shoulder for the likes of Rep. Kevin Mannix, R-Salem, and his merry band of morality police (May 1 article). No thank you. There are enough indignities and losses involved in having this disease without the state bureaucracy, police agencies and the Legislature hounding me like I'm a criminal. [They should] go look for real bad guys and leave the sick and dying alone. - --- MAP posted-by: Patrick Henry